Bastogne: The Story of the First Eight Days - US Army Center Of ...

54 BASTOGNE
grenades and automatic weapons and although the roadblock
crew was greatly outnumbered, the bullet fire did them no hurt
because of the protection of the embankment. Staff Sergeant
Leon D. Gantt finally decided that too many German potatomashers
were coming into the position and ordered his men to
withdraw about 100 yards. At this the Germans turned their halftrack
around and ran for safety; they were apparently a reconnaissance
element and had completed their mission by finding
the American outpost. During the action the two tanks had done
nothing although they were within 100 yards of the German
column. Sergeant Gantt went to Second Lieutenant Allen L.
Johnson and asked him why. Johnson replied that he hadn't been
sure what to do. He then fired a couple of Parthian shots down
the road but the enemy had already disappeared into the fog
and darkness. At dawn the outpost fell back on Noville according
to instructions.
Twenty minutes after the fighting had died on the Bourcy road
three tanks approached the outpost on the Houffalize road. The
sound of their motors seemed familiar to Staff Sergeant Major
I. Jones who was out by himself some 75 yards in front of the
roadblock. He thought they were American. When the tanks
were 75 yards away Jones yelled, "Halt!" and fired a quick burst
with his BAR over the turret of the lead tank. It stopped 50 yards
from him. He heard the occupants conversing in English. Then
fire from the tank's caliber .50 broke around Jones' foxhole in
the sloping bank on the side of the road. He Battened quickly
and the fire missed his back by inches. The men at the roadblock
fired on the tanks. Suddenly a cry of "Cease fire, they're friendly
troops!" was heard. Jones was not certain whether the cry came
from the force in front of him or behind him. The small-arms fire
ceased. But the two medium tanks which were supporting the
roadblock and were standing about 100 yards from this new
armor were less sanguine. The tank on the right side of the road
fired its 75mm. The first round hit the bank 15 yards from Jones
and almost blew him out of the hole. The foremost tank confronting
Jones fired six quick rounds in reply. The first round
knocked out the American tank on the right. The second round